Only For Ecchis
by Shan-chan aka Cosmic Castaway
Summary: Inuyasha discovers the strange side-affects of reading shounen-ai manga. Pairing: InuyashaMiroku


**Only for Ecchis** by Cosmic Castaway  
  
A/N: Another old fic from Shinjitsu no Shi. Originally titled _Shoujo Manga_, this one was InuMitsu's prize-fic for winning the Valentine's Day Contest, she requested it be Inu/Miro and involve pocky. So...this is the result. Enjoy. ^.^   
  
Kagome walked in humming, and everyone stopped what they were doing and stared.   
  
"Ah, hello everyone!" she announced, smiling cheerfully. She dropped her bulging yellow backpack to the floor, and all but Inuyasha winced visibly at the loud _bang_. "I have some gifts for all of you," she told them, eyes bright and friendly. "I brought them back from the festival."   
  
"Presents?" shouted Shippou, "Hooray!"   
  
"Festival?" Inuyasha inquired. He blinked at Kagome curiously.   
  
Miroku regarded the situtation with puzzlement. Sango was speechless.   
  
"Yes!" replied Kagome, beginning to open her bag, "It was a little town festival. Higurashi Jinja had lots of visitors. That's why I had to go back, you know. I had to help Mama and Grandpa at the shrine, and I also had to take Souta to the parade. Anyways, lots of traveling merchants had little stalls set up, and a few of the gift shops had sales. I was in high spirits, you know? So I thought I'd get some souvenirs for everyone."   
  
Miroku lifted an eyebrow. "I don't understand...wasn't Inuyasha fighting with Kagome-sama?"   
  
Kagome nodded, and her voice dropped lower. "Ah, yes, we had a fight. Just a little one, over me going home again," her voice suddenly picked up again, just as cheery. "That's alright! I already forgive him! The festival was small, but really cozy, and I forgot to be angry altogether!" She reached out and patted Inuyasha's hair.   
  
Although relieved to feel his tension disappear, Inuyasha still had an act to keep up. "Hey! Don't treat me like a dog," he grumbled, pulling away. Kagome just giggled in response, and he knew she was only teasing.   
  
"Well then," Kagome began, reaching into her bag. "What have I got here for Shippou?"   
  
The kitsune's eyes brightened and his smile grew wide despite himself.   
  
"For Shippou-chan, here's a bag of sweets and a toy mask," she announced, and handed the fox his present. Shippou squealed with delight and began rooting through the plastic bag noisily. He soon pulled out his favorite candy and had a mean-looking mask of a snarling oni resting on the side of his face.   
  
"Arigatou, Kagome!" he exclaimed, and plopped himself down to lick at his oversized lollipop.   
  
Kagome smiled with satisfaction, and reached in her bag once more.   
  
"For Sango-chan," she began, and smiled as the Taijiya blushed, "I've got a box of white-chocolate strawberries and a silk hair ribbon."   
  
Sango took the items gratefully, face red with embarassment. "Thank you, Kagome-chan."   
  
"For Miroku-sama," Kagome began, and she rolled her eyes as he grinned pervertedly at her, "I happen to NOT have anything ecchi. But rather, I've gotten you a novel to read and a bookmark made of fine paper." She grinned at him, and he tried to smile back innocently.   
  
"Many thanks," he said to her, taking the book. He studied the kanji on the cover and read it aloud. "'Buddhism for Dummies.' Hmm. I see what you people think of me..." he sighed and shook his head, and Kagome choked on her laughter. "And the 'bookmark'...fine paper indeed. What's it for?"   
  
"Holding your place in the book." Kagome gave him a quick demonstration, and he nodded and began leafing through the pages.   
  
"Ah, yes. Very interesting."   
  
Kagome then reached into her bag for the final gift. "Inuyasha."   
  
"What?"   
  
"I got you a large bag of chips and a manga magazine. Ah, and don't be upset, but the store was out of of the kind you liked - so I picked the most violent shoujo one I could find. It's supposed to be for girls, but I think you'll like it."   
  
"Yatta!" Inuyasha shouted, practically hugging the chips. "Sankyu!"   
  
He rolled on his back and held the magazine over his eyes. A few moments later he was cramming the chips in his mouth and reading intently.   
  
Kagome doubted he even knew the difference between shounen and shoujo manga.   
  


# - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - #

  
  
It was well into the night, and the only two awake were Sango and Inuyasha.   
  
Sango had done some laundry earlier in the day, as it was her turn. A little after noon she had washed their clothes in the river, scrubbing them with detergent and then soaking them in a bucket. She'd hung them to across a line, and as the moon had finished its climb to the top of the sky she was just returning with the fresh, dry clothes. Inuyasha sneezed at the strong, powdery scent the garments gave off, and Sango muttered an apology.   
  
"Why the hell do you use that laundry stuff Kagome brought? It gives me a headache."   
  
Sango sighed. "I like it. Everyone else thinks it smells nice."   
  
"Keh! Of course what I think doesn't matter."   
  
Sango ignored him, and laid out everyone's garments by their futons.   
  
Inuyasha was wearing only a white cotton yukata, and gratefully took back his clean clothes. He always felt exposed in wearing any less.   
  
"...Thanks."   
  
"It was nothing."   
  
Sango spread her clean blanket over her empty futon and fell into it, nuzzling the softness and inhaling the flowery scent. She sighed contentedly and rolled over, her back to the hanyou. She began to surrender to sleep, her breath becoming shallow.   
  
After a brief silence, she spoke.   
  
"Inuyasha, are you going to sleep?"   
  
"I will when I feel like it."   
  
"Well, when you do...please, can you blow out the lanterns?"   
  
No answer. Finally, "Yeah."   
  
Sango breathed deeply. "Good night."   
  
After several minutes of no response, she gave up. Sango rarely talked with Inuyasha one-on-one like this, and began to wonder how the others managed. She had long given up on him having any clue of how to carry on a decent conversation, much less engage in formalities. Giving it little more than a mental shrug, she was soon snoring softly.   
  
Two white ears twitched in the silence.   
  
_Good_, thought Inuyasha. He was in no mood to talk to anyone, especially Sango. Out of all his companions, she was the most distant from him. And anyone distant who tried to be friendly, even a close companion like Sango, made him uncomfortable.   
  
And he hated feeling any sort of weak.   
  
Failing to fall asleep, Inuyasha pulled out his magazine again. He was a slow reader, but he liked following the manga characters in their strange adventures. His favorites were comedy and action, and he tended to like sports stories, too. The hero may have taken the game seriously, but in the end, that's all it was - a game.   
  
No sacrifices. Nothing to lose, really. At least, nothing important.   
  
This shoujo manga or whatever, which Kagome had gotten him, had little in the way of anything like that. The stories here were dark and complex. They intrigued Inuyasha, but left him uneasy. He was used to reading fantastical hero epics, filled with courage and hope; These stories were dripping with gritty realism and had incredibly depressing plots. He leafed through the pages, skipping over what he'd read, and passing by anything else that looked to be something similar. Then, he stopped.   
  
"Yatta," he whispered. "This looks a _little_ better..."   
  
Whatever anthology he'd found appeared to be a romance. It wasn't his favorite type of story, though anything would be better than the dark tales of apocalypse and heart-shattering betrayals he'd skimmed through earlier. He glanced at the title, which was unfortunately written in Roman letters rather than any form of kana. Kagome had taught him a little about how to read them, and he strained his mind as he tried with difficultly to sound them out.   
  
"Ba....Bo-ee...Boy..." Inuyasha squinted, turning the magazine on its side. "Boy-sss...La-bu...Boy's Labu. Boys' Love. Yes, that's it!" He chuckled softly in victory. "Boy's Love," he repeated, "I know this. It means...like in 'boifurendo'...a shounen, an otoko...love is rabu...rabu is...ai. Boy's Love is Shounen Ai."   
  
The hanyou nodded, satisfied with himself. Then his eyes widened.   
  
"_Shounen Ai?! Shounen...!_"   
  
He quickly clapped his hand over his mouth as he heard Kagome moan softly and stir in her sleep. He'd said it too loudly. As he calmed down a bit, he began to wonder if Kagome had known this sort of story was in the magazine.   
  
_No_, he concluded. She couldn't have been the wiser. Why would she buy it for him if she'd known there was shounen ai in it? That sort of thing...it was something for hentai like Miroku, not him. Though it's not like it was _unheard_ of or anything...   
  
Out of pure curiosity, he set his eyes on the page and began to read.   
  
No less than two pages into the chapter, his stomach began to tingle. His heart sped up. And from the feeling of heat in his face, he was sure his cheeks were stained red. The young, shy male protagonist had just told his handsome older friend how he felt. And then the older boy had kissed him, agressively, on the lips. Inuyasha swallowed hard.   
  
_Why is this happening?_   
  
He'd read manga where a girl kissed a boy before, and had usually rolled his eyes. Nothing at all like this. It was the strongest feeling he'd ever felt - even more intense than when Kagome hugged him, or whispered loving things in his ears. Usually, in those situations, he felt calmed and comforted, and sometimes warm inside. Yet by merely looking at a drawing of two boys kiss, he became intensely nervous and excited, and felt a strong, throbbing ache in his loins. He shifted his position and continued reading.   
  
_Gods_, thought Inuyasha, gold eyes wide and intense. The older boy was licking down his younger friend's neck, slowly unbuttoning the boy's school uniform. The submissive one moaned and tossed his head, eyes closed in ecstasy. _This is too much..._   
  
But he turned the page. And suddenly, his pants felt too tight.   
  
He quickly threw the manga down, and stopped to catch his breath. _It's just a fuckin' comic!_   
  
Hastily he blew out the remaining candles, making the light in the cabin soft and blue. The quiet seemed to calm him, and slowly, the fire between his legs began to subside.   
  
After several moments of silence, the hanyou heard a rustling noise and watched a shadow sit up and leave the room. By its scent and shape, there was no mistaking who it was - Miroku. A sudden fear seemed to grip Inuyasha, and he realized he was worried. He remembered the time Miroku's Kazaana had been damaged, and he'd snuck away like this in the dark. He'd never never told anyone, but he had known Miroku had left that night. Only that time, he'd figured the monk had just stepped outside to use the bathroom or get some fresh air. He'd simply shrugged it off and gone back to sleep. But now....he was suspicious.   
  
The imagery of the manga still in his mind, he needed an excuse to follow Miroku. He spotted Shippou's candy bag lying nearby and grabbed a box from it, tossing it as hard as he could out the door. He heard Miroku cuss as it hit him, and Inuyasha promptly got up and ran after.   
  
Miroku was kneeling down, picking up the box. He looked at Inuyasha with annoyance. "Drop something?"   
  
"Baka. I was...trying to hit a moth..." He knew it sounded lame, but it was his only idea.   
  
"Sure," Miroku said. "Well, anyways...here's your..." he paused, and looked at the box. He was fairly decent at reading Roman letters. "...Pocky. Hey, isn't this Shippou's?"   
  
"I...borrowed it. The little brat won't mind."   
  
"Indeed."   
  
A pause. Miroku seemed to be hoping Inuyasha'd go back inside.   
  
"Oi...what the hell are you doing out here anyways, bouzou?" Inuyasha pryed, as he began to rip open the box of candy. The sound of the tearing cardboard was almost deafening in the overwhelming quiet, and he could feel the tension between him and the monk begin to thicken. He had no idea where it came from, not in the least. But he figured whatever Miroku's answer, it wouldn't be that he wanted to look at the stars.   
  
"I was having difficulty sleeping is all. And your little episode with that fancy picture book made it no easier."   
  
Inuyasha felt his face flush, and his eyes darted to the ground. "Ore wa...anou..."   
  
MIroku laughed, shaking his head.   
  
"Bastard," Inuyasha growled, but the monk ignored him.   
  
Miroku reached out and took a stick of Pocky from Inuyasha's box, and held it up in the moonlight.   
  
"Inuyasha," he began, more seriously, "How do you feel about, you know...that sort of thing."   
  
The hanyou snorted. "Keh." He took a bundle of the strawberry-flavored cookies and devoured them loudly, crumbs raining from his mouth. "As if I'd know what the hell you were talking about."   
  
"Don't play dumb. I know what you were reading. How do you feel about shounen ai? About boys in love with boys..." he paused, and brought the Pocky to his mouth. Instead of biting into it, he gently sucked at the sweet pink fudge. "About men in love with men...?"   
  
Inuyasha's face became three shades redder, and he opened his mouth to respond. He only managed to choke on his words and stare blankly.   
  
Miroku removed the Pocky from his mouth and grinned sensually at Inuyasha. The fudge was gone, leaving the biscuit stick naked as a pretzel. The monk licked his lips. "Well?"   
  
"I...I don't know. It's for sick ecchis like you, not me," the hanyou stuttered out. He was beginning to yearn for the moonlit silence of the cabin, for the sounds of his sleeping friends. If he had felt awkward with Sango, he felt it twice over and a half right now. And Miroku was his best friend!   
  
No. Kagome was his best friend. Miroku was...what exactly _was_ Miroku to him?   
  
"Just for us ecchis, eh?" Miroku said. He seemed delighted at the absolute bewildered look on his companion's face, and planned on making him even moreso than he already was. So he took another stick of Pocky and slid it in his lips, wetting it. Inuyasha watched with shocked facination, and Miroku took the opportunity to take the moistened fudge-covered stick and smear it accross the hanyou's cheek.   
  
"What the _hell_ do you think you're _doing_?!" cried Inuyasha, exasperated.   
  
"Just for us ecchis," Miroku repeated, and he took Inuyasha's head in his hands and dragged his tongue down his hot, blushing face.   
  
Miroku wasn't surprised when he was harshly punched in the side, and he drew back, grinning.   
  
"Mi.ro.ku! Are you absolutely out of your mind?" the hanyou gasped.   
  
"Inuyasha, I've been watching you," Miroku said, and his eyes became deep and full of need. "I've been watching you in battle, and I've watched you brood, pout, and argue, and look hopelessly up to the sky. I've watched you as you sleep with a face like a child, and I've watched you boil with the rage of the world's most storm-beaten heart. And as I watched you...."   
  
Inuyasha felt like running, fast as he could, away from this man. But the monk's gaze had him anchored to the ground.   
  
"As I watched you, I realized something about myself, Inuyasha. I realized all these women that I persue are nothing but toys, and aside from Sango whom I care for as a friend, they meant nothing to me. Nothing at all."   
  
Miroku waited for a response, but he got nothing.   
  
"But then I looked at you, and you were beautiful. I wanted to protect you so very badly it pained me. And from then on I knew, Inuyasha. I knew that I...I was..." he stopped, inhaling sharply. His voice lowered to a whisper. "I never considered myself gay, Inuyasha, but...I...I am in love with you. Deeply."   
  
Inuyasha gaped at him, wanting to speak, but his breath was stolen.   
  
Miroku smiled. "Well, now that that's out...I suppose I can get some sleep now."   
  
He turned to leave, back into the shadows of the dark cabin, when he felt a clawed had on his shoulder. His heart leaped. He didn't expect a response.   
  
"Miroku..." Inuyasha began, eyes to the side, "I...don't know what to say...."   
  
"You don't have to say anything, Inuyasha. After all....shounen ai is only for ecchis like me. I don't expect you to love me back." Miroku was smiling, but his eyes were sad and pulled at the hanyou's gut. The monk's gaze seem to melt away his doubts, leaving his soul near as naked as his body felt in the cotton robe he wore.   
  
"No, Miroku. I...I think I may also...be that way. I don't know...but that stupid story did something really strange to me, and I'm willing to try and figure out if that's the reason. So..." the hanyou looked up at him, eyes seeming clearer and sweeter than he'd ever seen them before. He almost looked genuinely scared. "I would like if you'd kiss me...then maybe I'd know for sure."   
  
Miroku looked at Inuyasha with genuine concern, and stroked a finger through his silvery bangs, soft as down. "Are you sure?"   
  
"I am. Kiss me."   
  
With little hesitation, the monk leaned forward and held his breath as he gave his friend a brief peck on the lips. Just that sigle, fleeting moment left him dizzy with love.   
  
"No. More."   
  
"No more?"   
  
"Baka. Kiss me again. Longer."   
  
Miroku eagerly obliged. He pressed forward and felt the softness against his own, hot and trembling. His mind swam with ecstasy, and he gasped as the hanyou's claws began to tangle in his hair.   
  
Inuyasha, in the meantime, was filled again with the ache and excitement. Only this time, his body was filled with warmth and his heart fluttered pleasantly in his chest. He needed more. So much more....   
  
He felt something wet brush his lips. "Hnn..."   
  
The hanyou parted his lips to let out a breath, and felt Miroku's head tilt sideways. The monk's tongue entered his mouth and lapped across the inside of his cheek, sending a shuddering heat down his spine. He stroked his own tongue against Miroku's, and it felt so wonderful, he tugged Miroku closer. They could both taste the faint flavor of strawberry fudge on eachother's breath.   
  
After a long while of this, Miroku finally pulled away, sucking the hanyou's lower lip as he did so. Inuyasha nipped playfully at his cheek and drew back, grinning.   
  
"Well, Inuyasha?" Miroku asked, his breathing coming heavy, "Any luck?"   
  
The hanyou smirked. "No, I'm not sure yet. I think...a bit more, and I'll know..."   
  
He mimicked the dominant boy in the manga, and ran his tongue down the side of Miroku's neck. He improvised, going back up and sucking softly at the lobe of the monk's ear.   
  
Miroku moaned, gasping sharply, earning a satisfied grin from his companion. Inuyasha bit down softly and pulled away, fangs raking genly across sensitive skin.   
  
"You've got yourself a deal. Freaking faker, pretending to be naiive...not that it's a _bad_ thing..."   
  
Inuyasha shook his head, chuckling. "C'mon, ecchi."   
  
And they were lost into to shadows of the forest, hand in hand, starless sky above them. 


End file.
